This invention relates to a golf ball comprising a core and a cover of one or more layers and a method for preparing the same, and more particularly, to a golf ball having excellent properties including flight performance, feel on impact, and scuff resistance and a method for preparing the same.
From the past, resin materials such as polyurethane and ionomer resins are used as golf ball cover stock. Golf balls using polyurethane in the cover stock are soft and improved in feel on impact, controllability and the like, but have the drawback of poor ball rebound. Also, golf balls using ionomer resins in the cover stock are good in rebound and durability, but lack flexibility and give a hard ball touch. Then a variety of polymer blend cover stocks have been proposed in order to compensate for the drawbacks of the respective cover stocks.
For instance, a mixture of an ionomer resin and a polyester elastomer (JP-A 56-83367 and JP-A 62-275480) is arrived at by mixing a polyester block copolymer featuring flexibility and resilience with an ionomer resin featuring extreme toughness and rebound resilience. This mixture makes use of the advantageous properties of both the components and is especially effective for rebound improvement.
The above mixture, however, has a non-uniform morphology since the polyester block copolymer and the ionomer resin are not regarded as a combination of fully compatible materials. When this mixture is used as a golf ball cover stock, there arise drawbacks including low scuff resistance of the cover upon iron shots and insufficient durability upon repeated impact.
JP-A 11-9721 describes a golf ball in which a blend of a thermoplastic polyurethane and a styrene base block copolymer is used as a base of cover stock in order to improve the scuff resistance of the cover stock. The ball, however, is insufficient in rebound and scuff resistance. There is a need for further improvement.